Purpose Unlimited Inc. Takes Position in Bank of Nova Scotia (The) $BNS

Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new stake in Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 707,198 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $52,158,000. Bank of Nova Scotia accounts for about 2.4% of Purpose Unlimited Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Purpose Unlimited Inc. owned 0.06% of Bank of Nova Scotia as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Nova Scotia by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,237,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,221,440,000 after purchasing an additional 1,169,073 shares during the last quarter. Canerector Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 8,899.0% in the third quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 26,997,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,745,356,000 after purchasing an additional 26,697,000 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 18,674,585 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,379,120,000 after purchasing an additional 310,564 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia during the fourth quarter worth about $1,368,456,000. Finally, FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 49.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 16,489,540 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,216,157,000 after purchasing an additional 5,461,052 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from $98.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded shares of Bank of Nova Scotia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bank of Nova Scotia in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Nova Scotia presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.00.

Bank of Nova Scotia Stock Up 0.1%

BNS opened at $87.16 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $78.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.63, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.12. Bank of Nova Scotia has a fifty-two week low of $53.74 and a fifty-two week high of $87.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS) (TSE:BNS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 27th. The bank reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.05. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 13.38% and a return on equity of 13.16%. The business had revenue of $7.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 6.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Nova Scotia Company Profile

Bank of Nova Scotia, commonly known as Scotiabank, is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company founded in 1832 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. It is one of Canada’s largest banks and provides a broad range of financial services to retail, commercial, corporate and institutional clients. The bank combines a domestic Canadian franchise with an extensive international presence to serve customers across multiple markets.

Scotiabank’s core activities include personal and commercial banking, wealth management, corporate and investment banking, capital markets, and global transaction banking.